Minimum Wage Hike Killed By Veto Pen

Reposted from the AFL-CIO blogs, thought to share.

When President Bush vetoed legislation setting timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq yesterday, he also vetoed the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade.

That means Republicans for 112 days have held hostage a minimum wage increase. While minimum wage workers have not had a pay raise since 1997, Congress gave itself nine pay hikes, totally more than $36,000.

Here's how it got to this point:

The U.S. House passed a bill Jan. 10 that would have boosted the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25, without another round of tax breaks for business. Senate Republicans filibustered the House bill for a week in January, using Senate rules to force minimum wage backers to win 60 votes instead of a simple 51 majority and then killing the House bill on Jan. 24. By killing the House bill, Senate Republicans forced Senate Democrats to add $8.3 billion in business tax breaks. They then refused to allow the combined minimum wage and tax package to move to a conference with the House until the House produced its own package of tax cuts for business. Members of the House and Senate announced April 20 that they had reached agreement on $4.8 billion in tax relief for small businesses that will be paired with a minimum wage increase. They then added the minimum wage increase to the supplemental spending bill (H.R. 1591) conference report, which both houses passed and Bush vetoed yesterday.

Supporters of the minimum wage increase are disappointed, but undaunted. They vow to continue to send the package of tax breaks and a minimum wage increase back to the president until it is signed.